Chapter 249 226: Endless Fun

Gao Xinhua still has a lot of confidence in Xu Chunliang's abilities. Don't be fooled by his lack of qualifications; with his skills, he can handle any position with ease.Xu Chunliang said, "I don't have any plans at the moment. I find my current job quite interesting."

Gao Xinhua spoke to him directly, "Your title as the branch director is just a facade; it doesn't mean anything. When both parties merge, they could remove you at any time."

Xu Chunliang laughed, "You're worried that the Huayuan Group will retaliate against me because of Tang Tianyi, aren't you?"

"So, you do know."

Xu Chunliang said, "I want to see how they plan to retaliate against me."

Gao Xinhua was truly speechless. It's like the saying goes: when you know there's a tiger on the mountain, yet you head towards it anyway. He put down his teacup and said, "Why are you so combative? Can't you just live peacefully?"

Xu Chunliang said, "Haven't you heard of the joy in fighting with heaven, fighting with earth, and fighting with people?"

Gao Xinhua replied, "Don't selectively quote. Why don't you mention the next line? Relieving family worries, alleviating public worries, easing national worries, now that's commendable!"

Xu Chunliang said, "That's why, if I run away now, wouldn't that mean I'm shirking responsibility? I'm not afraid of them at all. Whether it's Tang Tianyi or Tang Jingwei, whether it's Changxing or Huayuan, if they don't provoke me, I won't provoke them. But if anyone dares to mess with me, Tang Tianyi is the perfect example."

Gao Xinhua stared in astonishment at Xu Chunliang. He finally understood, this kid isn't afraid of trouble; he fears there's no trouble. This guy is definitely someone who thrives in chaos.

Suddenly, he remembered something, "Old Yan is full of praise for your calligraphy. Can you help me write this couplet?"

Xu Chunliang said, "Uncle Gao, isn't putting this at the entrance a bit too showy?"

"Nonsense, I'll have it framed at home. Stop jabbering and get on with writing it."

Tomorrow is Saturday, so Xu Chunliang didn't return to the branch. His grandfather asked him to accompany him to the mining area to see patients in the morning, and Xu Chunliang agreed.

He hadn't been home long when Lu Qi arrived. He called Xu Chunliang outside and mysteriously asked if there had been anything unusual at home recently.

Xu Chunliang said everything was normal. Since Han Tianchi broke out of prison, Lu Qi would often come by to check if anything was amiss, mainly worried about Han Tianchi coming back for revenge. Xu Chunliang personally thought Han Tianchi didn't have the guts; last time, he almost died at Huichun Hall, and if he dared to come again, Xu Chunliang would make sure he wouldn't return.

Lu Qi looked like he had something on his mind, but he hesitated to speak.

Xu Chunliang said, "You can just tell me what's going on."

Lu Qi shared a piece of news he had come across. The Seven Star Bar, which had issues before, reopened, but shortly after, they received a threat letter. The letter warned that what happened before would happen again unless they put half a million in cash at a designated place at a designated time.

The bar owner, Xie Chunlei, decided to call the police after careful consideration. The police made a plan to catch the culprit red-handed when they came to get the money. However, the criminal was cunning, saw through the police's plan, and decided not to collect the money, but it wasn't the end of the matter.

Today, Xie Chunlei received a second threatening letter, telling him that at nine tonight, the previous incident would happen again.

Xu Chunliang chuckled silently. The last time the Seven Star Bar was destroyed, he masterminded it himself. Who on earth decided to use this incident for blackmail and fraud? And they dared to ask for half a million, such an appetite! Although Xu Chunliang didn't think much of the bar's crowd, this impostor trying to scam them was even more vile.

Xu Chunliang said, "You don't suspect me, do you?"

Lu Qi said, "How could I? I trust your character." He withheld certain information; it wasn't that he suspected Xu Chunliang, but the police already had suspicions about him. When Xie Chunlei reported the incident, he mentioned Xu Chunliang as a person of interest, so the police began investigating Xu Chunliang's recent activities.

Lu Qi knew Xu Chunliang well. During the spider and bat attack at the Seven Star Bar, Lu Qi was with Xu Chunliang and witnessed what looked like a scene right out of a Batman movie. Afterward, he reviewed the surveillance footage to reconstruct the event and found nothing suspicious about Xu Chunliang.

However, Lu Qi was aware that Xu Chunliang had the ability to control poisonous snakes. Furthermore, he had seen a swarm of wasps sting moving company workers, making their heads swell. Individually, these events could be explained away as coincidences, but together, they seemed much less coincidental.

Lu Qi also knew about events at the Weishan Island Branch. Xu Daqing, from the branch's security department, was bitten by poisonous insects twice. These weren't secrets, and local police records could easily verify them.

When you piece these events together, you find a common thread: all the victims had wronged Xu Chunliang somehow.

Lu Qi, being a good friend of Xu Chunliang's, believed these people had it coming, but he was strongly curious about the events themselves. What role did Xu Chunliang play in them? Is there really anyone out there who can control venomous creatures?

Controlling grass snakes he could understand, but wasps, scorpions, centipedes, and bats? That exceeded the bounds of his knowledge. Characters like Ouyang Feng or Little Dragon Girl were from wuxia novels; in reality, he hadn't heard of anyone with such powers.

As for the Bat Group battle, he saw it with his own eyes. The scene at the time was even more shocking than in the Batman movies. They were both present; why didn't those spiders and bats attack them?

However, the appearance of the threat letter this time actually proved Xu Chunliang's innocence. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest Xu Chunliang is related to the threat letter.

Xu Chunliang said, "Come on, you're just suspicious of me."

Lu Qi laughed and said, "Really, I'm not suspicious of you. How about this: tonight you come with me, see what's going on, and if something like last time happens, you can help me rescue people." This was the task given to him by his superiors––to bring Xu Chunliang to the scene.

When Xu Chunliang heard it, he guessed that Lu Qi was still suspicious of him after all. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made such a request. He was responsible for the last incident, but this one had nothing to do with him.

Xu Chunliang said, "If I don't go and something happens, does that prove it has nothing to do with me?"

Lu Qi said, "Do you really think something will happen?"

Xu Chunliang said, "Don't ask me, since I didn't do it. But if you need my help, I can come with you and take a look. Maybe I can assist you."

Lu Qi nodded, "Alright!" He also insisted that the threat letter had nothing to do with Xu Chunliang.

The two went together to the newly reopened Seven Star Bar. Lu Qi was in plain clothes today, and Xu Chunliang spotted Li Zhong there, also in plain clothes.

The police took this matter seriously, dispatching dozens of plainclothes officers to the scene. Such a significant deployment was to ensure that nothing went wrong tonight.

As soon as Lu Qi and Xu Chunliang entered the doors of the Seven Star Bar, someone came to meet them and took them to VIP room 888, where a temporary command center had been set up. Xu Chunliang was very familiar with this room; it was where he had beaten up Tang Tianyi's group the previous time.

Captain Lin, who was in charge of this operation, was communicating with Xie Chunlei. Xie Chunlei was startled to see Xu Chunliang. Actually, when the threat letter arrived at the bar, the first person he thought of was Xu Chunliang, and he informed the police of this angle. Otherwise, Lu Qi would not have sought out Xu Chunliang without reason. However, he hadn't expected the police to invite Xu Chunliang to the scene.

Lu Qi introduced Xu Chunliang to Captain Lin, "Captain Lin, this is Mr. Xu Chunliang, an animal expert, whom I invited."

Xu Chunliang secretly laughed, as he had gone from being a herpetologist to an animal expert, but he was capable enough to earn this title.

Captain Lin shook hands warmly with Xu Chunliang, thanking him for taking time out of his busy schedule to help. He also expressed gratitude to Xu Chunliang for his aid in solving the cellphone theft case.

Xu Chunliang glanced at Lu Qi, thinking that Lu Qi had likely documented his help in the case report. In the future, he'll need to be more cautious about befriending the police; if he's not careful, he might end up as a suspect.

Xie Chunlei glanced at Xu Chunliang with a wary look. He still believed the previous incident was related to Xu Chunliang, although he lacked evidence. He even suspected the threat letter was Xu Chunliang's doing, but the police investigation had ruled out Xu Chunliang as a suspect.

Knowing what Xie Chunlei was thinking, Xu Chunliang laughed and said, "I'll just stay in this room. If something really happens outside, suspicion won't fall on me."

Captain Lin said, "Mr. Xu, don't worry. We don't suspect you; feel free to move around."

Xu Chunliang thought to himself, even if you suspect me, you can't say it out loud.

Lu Qi said, "I estimate that tonight's threat letter is likely just an empty threat. We used surveillance to perform facial recognition on every guest entering the venue. If there are any anomalies, we'll address them early."

Xie Chunlei said gratefully, "Thank you for your hard work. I've prepared some food for everyone. I'll rely on you all tonight."

Xie Chunlei returned to his office, where Hua Zhuyue was sitting in his chair, staring at the surveillance monitors. The ashtray in front of her was already piled with cigarette butts.

She lit another cigarette, and Xie Chunlei walked over to light it for her, "Sister Hua, the police have everything arranged."

Hua Zhuyue took a drag of her cigarette and said, "Xu Chunliang is here?"

Xie Chunlei nodded, "I suspect he did it!" Hua Zhuyue said, "Determining if there's suspicion is up to the police. Why are you blindly suspecting?"

Xie Chunlei said, "The police's judgment isn't necessarily correct. That guy definitely has issues."

"If you don't trust the police, why call them? Since we chose to report it, we have to trust them. Our Blue Star is a legitimate entertainment company, not some shady operation. When things go wrong, we need to resolve them through legal procedures," Hua Zhuyue glared at him.

Xie Chunlei said, "I really don't understand why the police brought him here. What help can he offer?"